How To Help

People often look for ways to help educate about Lyme disease but do not know how to begin. If you are working on your own, you can check for support groups in your state or region and contact them to ask how you can help with their efforts.  Or you can work on your own by reaching out to your local officials first, who may often be your neighbors or parents of your children’s friends. Talk to them about Lyme and tick-borne diseases. Share simple information with them first, how Lyme has affected your family, provide pamphlets and information about how widespread it is in your community.  

Go to your town council/committee meetings and share your concerns publicly. Talk to them about how children are at the highest risk. Perhaps they might host a Lyme seminar, or use environmental measures to control ticks on public property, or post public property with signs warning about ticks. Do the same at your local board of education meetings, and county government meetings. Explain how debilitating the disease is and that it also has a high financial cost to the patient/family and to society.

You may also try to educate state officials but that may be harder to do on your own. Enlist your friends and family, the local PTA, Rotary, or Elks and ask them to support your efforts.

LDA has developed a list of low cost recommendations to use at the state level. Agency titles may differ from state to state.

Who Implements
What is Implemented
Why it Is Recommended
Public Lands Agency
Post parks alerting people to presence of ticks, tick avoidance, proper removal procedures.
Prevention
DOE (Dept. of Education)/DOH (Dept. of Health) Encourage schools to keep properties maintained, post tick warnings where necessary, and develop trip policies reflecting high risk areas
Prevention
DOE (Dept. of Education)
Encourage schools in endemic areas to provide educational forums on Lyme disease for staff and students.
Prevention and funding considerations
Environmental Protection
This agency may oversee hunting & fishing licenses and it could issue advisories to sportsmen with its material, especially in the areas of prevention and tick removal. Courses for hunters should include prevention materials.
High risk groups
Police, Fire, Emergency Personnel
Add prevention materials to their training requirements
High risk groups